“In my opinion, there’s nothing going on here, at least as far as oil markets are concerned,” said Omar Al-Ubaydli, a program director at the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies.

He believes the “developments reflect geopolitics.”

“In the case of Saudi Arabia and Russia, both countries are seeking closer relations, and they want to project a good relationship to the rest of the world,” said Al-Ubaydli, who’s also an affiliated senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. “They both know that there’s no chance of effective cooperation in oil markets due to market forces, but there’s no harm in having an extra meeting, and issuing mutually supportive statements.”

“In the case of Iran, their government officials are always happy to engage the media, especially now that sanctions have been lifted,” said Al-Ubaydli. “They like to make statements that suggest that their voice is important in global affairs, even though the reality of oil markets is that Iran and all other producers are slaves to market forces.”